The Golden Alphabet Part Four

Extract

The Golden Alphabet — Part Four — Psalm 119:81-112
C. H. Spurgeon

Exposition of verses 81 to 88, Caph

81. My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word. 82. Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me?
83. For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy statutes.
84. How many are the days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?
85. The proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy law.
86. All thy commandments are faithful: they persecute me wrongfully; help thou me.
87. They had almost consumed me upon earth; but I forsook not thy precepts.
88. Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.

This portion of the gigantic psalm sees the Psalmist in extremis. His enemies have brought him to the lowest condition of anguish and depression; yet he is faithful to the law, and trustful in his God. This octave is the midnight of the psalm, and very dark and black it is. Stars, however, shine out, and the last verse gives promise of the dawn. The strain will after this become more cheerful; but meanwhile it should minister comfort to us to see so eminent a servant of God so hardly used by the ungodly. Evidently in our own persecutions, no strange thing has happened unto us.

81. “My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word.” “My soul fainteth for thy salvation.” He wished for no deliverance but that which came from God: his one desire was for “thy salvation.” But for that divine deliverance he was eager to the last degree — up to the full measure of his strength, yea, and beyond it, till he fainted. So strong was his desire that it produced prostration of spirit. He grew weary with waiting, faint with watching, sick with urgent need. Thus the sincerity and eagerness …